Entertainment

Documentary highlights the beauty of people with genetic conditions

It might not be possible for one person to redefine beauty, but fashion photographer Rick Guidotti is hoping to start a movement.

A new documentary called On Beauty follows Guidotti as he photographs children with visible genetic conditions in order to challenge typical societal beauty standards, as well as show alternatives to the usual imagery associated with various genetic conditions seen in medical textbooks. It will open in select theaters in Los Angeles on July 24 and in New York on July 31.

Guidotti started the “Positive Exposure” program after years of shooting models and working with high profile fashion clients from Revlon to Yves Saint Laurent. His viewpoint on photography and his career choice changed suddenly after seeing a girl with albinism at a bus stop. He began to research genetic differences and realized that images depicting them were often “sad and dehumanizing,” his website states.

Image: On Beauty

“He gives us the space, permission and tools to see people as he sees them and how they want to be seen — whether you’re a supermodel, his first photos subjects, or a child with a genetic syndrome,” Joanna Rudnick, On Beauty’s filmmaker, says in a statement.

Rudnick decided to follow Guidotti around after personally experiencing an unseen genetic condition and wondering what it was like for those living with one that is visible.

“When I have encountered photography of people with genetic syndromes, my association was dehumanizing black-bar photographs that isolate and highlight difference. Rick’s photography was an exact affront to that imagery, allowing people to have names, larger-than-life personalities and identities outside of one defining label,” she says.

Guidotti wants society to see people with differences as a beautiful, positive part of society, and that is where his photographs come in.

People tend to tell Guidotti, “You’re really capturing their inner beauty.” But he insists, that it is their outer beauty he is focused on. “F**k inner beauty, these kids are gorgeous,” he says in the trailer.

"As a culture, we have to break through and provide a safe forum to talk openly about this epidemic of self-loathing and bullying," Rudnick told Mashable.

Documentary subjects Sarah Kanney and Jayne Waithera.

Image: On Beauty

While Guidotti has taken pictures of many people with genetic conditions, the documentary itself follows two photo subjects: Sarah Kanney and Jayne Waithera. Kanney was bullied out of public school because of the Sturge-Weber birthmark on her face. Waithera lives in South Africa where people with albinism are discriminated against.

Rudnick saw a change in confidence from the project's participants after the photos were taken.

"I've noticed they stand taller — more confident — and shake off the shroud of self-doubt that has been cast upon many of them​ by unkind stares and alienation," she says.

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